Four-strong gang arrested in Baghdad for kidnapping child

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) A gang was arrested on Thursday after kidnapping a child at al-Shu’ala district in Baghdad, a security source told Baghdad Today.

“The four-strong gang was arrested after kidnapping a five-year-old child on Wednesday,” the source said.

The kidnappers were hiding inside a house at al-Shu’ala district when the Iraqi troops launched a raid on them, the source added.

Earlier in the day, a kidnapped Yazidi girl was freed by al-Hashd al-Shaabi fighters in Hatra city, southwest of Mosul.

“The girl was released during the displacement of Iraqi families from a village in Hatra city,” Shafaq News quoted Commander of the 61st brigade of al-Hashd al-Shaabi Munif al-Shammari as saying.

The girl was kidnapped by an Islamic State militant, he said, adding that the kidnapper’s two brothers were arrested.

Iraqi officials fear that kidnapping cases are affecting investments in Iraq, where these cases have become a threat to businesses, their employees and investors. This could lead businesses to move or avoid the country.

In the chaos of 2003, when the US-led coalition invaded Iraq, and at the peak of the civil war in 2006 and 2007, kidnapping cases increased and gangs proliferated, which led to the emergence of the prominent abduction groups and organized crime concept.